BATTLE OF HOMESTEAD – POWER VS POWER
COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY LUCY WARNER
OCTOBER 4, 2016


In my high school science, the subject of different kinds of energy was defined as “potential”, in which a presently unmoving object such as the boulder that sits on the edge of the cliff above is said to contain “potential energy.” In the case of “kinetic energy,” that is what occurs if the boulder is dislodged, and comes rolling down the hill to crush anyone unlucky enough to be below.

The power of the people is, in happy times, potential energy, but when a group such as those at Homestead in Western Pennsylvania are threatened in their very ability to survive financially, the energy can become kinetic very rapidly. In that case the Union was already established, and Carnegie tried to reduce the workers’ wages.

The reason all on the political right suppress group activity, such as BLM and determined union actions, or the Black and Hispanic exercise of their right to vote, or BLM’s pressure on police departments to stop their cops from unnecessary violence, is that those people when they work together become not merely individuals, but an army. It’s also the second element behind the White Supremacy movement. The first, unfortunately, is the human diseases of Groupism and Classism.

See the following Wiki articles on the labor movement in the mines there. Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, was known for his advocacy and practice of philanthropy, but in this case his human greed took over, with the effect of radicalizing the union to the point of violence. Read about the steel strike at Homestead. This kind of thing is what causes me to be so interested in history. The real world is more exciting than one of those old western movies from the 1940s when a huge number of men joined a posse, and rode en masse across the plains, lathered horses pulling at the reins.

This is why I am so firmly behind Bernie Sanders, and so deeply annoyed at Hillary’s recent smug statements strongly implying her vast superiority over those of us who have not found our wealth under the status quo, as Hill and Bill have. Bernie is a true Progressive and a fighter, and as such I honor him. The release of the audio last weekend of her February 2016 campaign speech has caused many of us to be all the more firmly placed against the present Democratic Party.

I understand fully why we need to vote for her in the Presidential race in November, because a Donald Trump presidency is a “clear and present danger” to what we view as our American civilization – though the growing number of racially biased Trump followers makes me question that term for our country today. When I voted recently in the primary, however, I removed my party affiliation as a Democrat and took my place as an independent voter. If OurRevolution does actually become a political party, I will join that.



http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-Events-in-Labor-History/1892-Homestead-Strike

1892 Homestead Strike

The 1892 Homestead strike in Pennsylvania and the ensuing bloody battle instigated by the steel plant's management remain a transformational moment in U.S. history, leaving scars that have never fully healed after five generations.

The skilled workers at the steel mills in Homestead, seven miles southeast of downtown Pittsburgh, were members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers who had bargained exceptionally good wages and work rules. Homestead's management, with millionaire Andrew Carnegie as owner, was determined to lower its costs of production by breaking the union.

Carnegie Steel Co. was making massive profits—a record $4.5 million just before the 1892 confrontation, which led Carnegie himself to exclaim, "Was there ever such a business!" But he and his chairman, Henry Frick, were furious workers had a voice with the union. "The mills have never been able to turn out the product they should, owing to being held back by the Amalgamated men," Frick complained to Carnegie.

Even more galling for them was that, as Pittsburgh labor historian Charles McCollester later wrote in The Point of Pittsburgh, "The skilled production workers at Homestead enjoyed wages significantly higher than at any other mill in the country."

So management acted.

First, as the union's three-year contract was coming to an end in 1892, the company demanded wage cuts for 325 employees, even though the workers had already taken large pay cuts three years before. During the contract negotiations, management didn't make proposals to negotiate. It issued ultimatums to the union. The local newspaper pointed out that "it was not so much a question of disagreement as to wages, but a design upon labor organization."

Carnegie and Frick made little effort to hide what they had in mind. Their company advertised widely for strikebreakers and built a 10-foot-high fence around the plant that was topped by barbed wire. Management was determined to provoke a strike.

Meanwhile, the workers organized the town on a military basis. They were "establishing pickets on eight-hour shifts, river patrols and a signaling system," according to McCollester.

Frick did what plenty of 19th-century businessmen did when they were battling unions. He hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which was notorious for such activities as infiltrating its agents into unions and breaking strikes-and which at its height had a larger work force than the entire U.S. Army.

When Frick plotted to sneak in 300 Pinkerton agents on river barges before dawn on July 6, word spread across town as they were arriving and thousands of workers and their families rushed to the river to keep them out. Gunfire broke out between the men on the barge and the workers on land. In the mayhem that ensued, the Pinkertons surrendered and came ashore, where they were beaten and cursed by the angry workers.

At the end of the battle between the Pinkertons and nearly the entire town, seven workers and three Pinkertons were dead. Four days later, 8,500 National Guard forces were sent at the request of Frick to take control of the town and steel mill. After winning his victories, Frick announced, "Under no circumstances will we have any further dealing with the Amalgamated Association as an organization. This is final." And in November, the Amalgamated Association collapsed.

According to labor historian David Brody, in his highly acclaimed Steelworkers in America: The Nonunion Era, the daily wages of the highly skilled workers at Homestead shrunk by one-fifth between 1892 and 1907, while their work shifts increased from eight hours to 12 hours.

1892 Homestead Strike

That was not the only measure of the steel workers' defeat. As Sidney Lens pointed out in his classic The Labor Wars: From the Molly Maguires to the Sit-Downs, membership in the Amalgamated Association plummeted from 24,000 to 10,000 in 1894 and down to 8,000 in 1895. Meanwhile, the Carnegie Steel Co.'s profits rose to a staggering $106 million in the nine years after Homestead. And for 26 long years—until the last months of World War I in 1918—union organizing among steelworkers was crushed.

At the end of the 19th century, Homestead inspired a song well known around the country, "Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men." The lyrics of this deeply angry ballad began: "'Twas in Pennsylvania town not very long ago,/Men struck against reduction of their pay./Their millionaire employer with philanthropic show/Had closed the works 'till starved they would obey./They fought for home and right to live where they had toiled so long,/But ere the sun had set, some were laid low."

Sources

Demarest, David (editor), The River Ran Red: Homestead 1892.University of PittsburghPress, 1992. Krause, Paul, The Battle for Homestead, 1880-1892: Politics, Culture, and Steel. University of PittsburghPress, 1992. McCollester, Charles, The Point of Pittsburgh. Battle of Homestead Foundation, 2008. Brody, David, Steelworkers in America: The Nonunion Era. Harper & Row, 1969. Lens, Sidney, The Labor Wars: From the Molly Maguires to the Sit-Downs.Haymarket Books, 2008.



http://battleofhomestead.org/bhf/about/

ABOUT THE BATTLE OF HOMESTEAD FOUNDATION
group-pic


The Battle of Homestead Foundation (BHF) is a diverse organization of citizens, workers, educators and historians. It’s purpose is to preserve, interpret, and promote a people’s history focused on the significance of the dramatic labor conflict at Homestead, Pennsylvania in 1892.

While the many consequences of that tragic event persist in society, the sole existing structure of the 1892 Homestead Steel Works is the site of the battle itself, Pump House No. 1 , located in Munhall, Pa.

Many people interested in the Battle, as well as the history of the working class and the Labor movement, are dedicated to preserving the Pump House as a labor monument to working people that will attract tourism, labor groups, students, and anyone in any way interested in Western Pennsylvania’s fascinating industrial and labor heritage. The BHF strives to assist and abet these interests and efforts.

Toward those goals and objectives, BHF was incorporated in 1997 as a 501c3 non-profit corporation for charitable and educational purposes. BHF evolved from the Homestead Strike Centennial Commemorative Committee, founded in 1990.

After the dismantling of the historic Homestead Steel Works in the 1980s, then-owner Park Corporation performed restorative work on the Pump House. In 1996, BHF was formed in response to Park’s efforts, developing plans for a minimalist interpretive program for the site. Park welcomed the initiatives, and subsequent owners and developers, Continental Real Estate, also proved hospitable. Today the site is owned and benevolently operated by Rivers of Steel National Heritage Corporation, who also offer many educational programs, tours, and events related to the Pump House as well as other local points of interest.

Since 1990, an impressive list of productions and events pertaining to the Pump House have been presented, supported, and organized by BHF.

Early on, group members collaborated on an anthology The River Ran Red, followed by a film of the same name produced by Steffi Domike and Nicole Fauteux which was broadcast by PBS in 1993.

All our welcome to take part and enjoy the films, music, theater, lectures, forums, exhibits, publications, and poetry. Check out calendar of events for current offerings.


2016 Board of Directors:

President: John Haer
Vice President: Steffi Domike
Treasurer: Norm Koehler
Secretary: Laura Wiens

Bob and Sharon Beattie
Dan Beeton
Millie Beik
JT Campbell
Patricia Demarco
Jerry Fitzgibbon
Gabe Kramer
Chuck Passon
Joni Rabinowitz
Howard Scott
Mike Stout
Rosemary Trump
Joe & Delsa White

Emeritus Board Members: Charlie McCollester and Bill Yund.

BATTLE OF HOMESTEAD FOUNDATION

P.O. Box 339

Homestead, PA 15120-0339
John Haer, President
Phone: 412-478-5907 Email: battleofhomestead@gmail.The Rivers of Steel Heritage Area Corp. rents out the Pump House for events and you can call them at 412.464.4020,